Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' Sweeps at 2025 Grammy Awards

With a clean sweep in all nominated categories, Kendrick Lamar's hit song "Not Like Us" won five awards at the 2025 Grammy Awards despite the song being shrouded in controversy.

"Not Like Us" Wins Multiple Grammy Awards

K-Dot came into the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 2), with 17 career wins. The Compton, Calif. rapper significantly added to that total as his chart-topping 2024 single "Not Like Us" won five awards out of five nominations. The L.A. anthem won in the categories of Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, Best Music Video Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

K-Dot and his scathing diss track aimed at Drake locked down the first three wins at a premiere ceremony before the start of music's biggest night. The pre-show found the song's producer, Mustard, accepting golden gramophones for "Not Like Us" in the Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Music Video on Kendrick's behalf.

As the awards ceremony began to wind down, pop superstar Miley Cyrus announced that "Not Like Us" was voted in by the Recording Academy as Record of the Year. Without having been shown on camera at any other point of the evening, Kendrick Lamar himself took the stage to accept the award with Mustard in tow. After acknowledging his aunt Sharon, who had recently passed, and shouting out West Coast icon Dr. Dre, Kendrick dedicated his big win to his home city of Los Angeles.

"We're going to dedicate this one to the city," Kendrick declares in the video below. "Compton, Watts, Long Beach, Inglewood, Hollywood. Out to the Valley, Pacoima, I.E., San Bernardino, all that. This is my neck of the woods that has held me down since a young pup. I was in the studio, scrapping to write the best raps and all that in order to do records like these."

Kenny then took the time to give his fellow Californians a sense of hope amid the recent wildfire relief efforts. "I can't give enough thanks to these places that I rolled around since high school. Most importantly, the people and the families out in the Palisades and Altadena. This is a true testament that we're going to continue to restore this city. We're going to keep rocking," he adds.

From there, the legendary Diana Ross opened the envelope and revealed that after being voted upon by 13,000 members of the Academy, Kendrick Lamar had officially won the coveted Song of the Year award for "Not Like Us." With his second acceptance speech within a matter of minutes, K-Dot continued to big up his West Coast brethren, his loving family and the art of rap.

"This is what it's about, man, because at the end of the day, nothing more powerful than rap music," Kendrick explains. "I don't care what it is. We are the culture that's going to always stay here and live forever. To the young artist, like my man Punch say, I just hope you respect the art form. That's all. Respect the art form, it'll get you where you need to go. Alright, salute. I appreciate you all. I love you all."

Read More: Here's How Grammy Awards Voting Actually Works

The Controversy Surrounding "Not Like Us"

Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss song "Not Like Us" was inarguably one of the biggest songs of 2024, regardless of genre. Released in May of 2024, the song was the figurative atomic bomb dropped in Kendrick's battle with Drake. However, in November of 2024, Drake filed two pre-action petitions against Universal Music Group, accusing the music conglomerate of colluding with Spotify and iHearRadio to artificially inflate "Not Like Us" by means of bots and payola.

He later filed a federal defamation lawsuit against UMG, claiming they defamed Drizzy by distributing the song, which refers to Drake as a child predator. Kendrick Lamar is not listed on the lawsuit.

UMG has responded to Drake's lawsuit in a statement, writing in part: "We have not and do not engage in defamation—against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song."

Next week, Kendrick Lamar is slated to perform the highly anticipated halftime show at Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9.

Read More: Is Drake Trying to Prevent Kendrick Lamar From Performing "Not Like Us" at the Super Bowl?

Take a look at Mustard accepting three Grammy Awards on Kendrick Lamar's behalf and see the Compton spitter accept the awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in the videos below.

Watch Kendrick Lamar's Acceptance Speech for "Not Like Us" Winning Record of the Year

See Kendrick Lamar Accept the Grammy Award for Song of the Year With "Not Like Us"

Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" Wins Three Categories at the 2025 Grammy Awards

See Every Rapper Nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award